We are often approached by people seeking one-to-one, dedicated support with mentoring, their manuscript, and other major ways of advancing their writing career. As much as we’d like to, we don’t have the resources or capacity to help everyone, and there are other schemes and programmes out there which may be able help.
Development Programmes
There are a wide range of regional and national programmes to boost your skills and career:
- Curtis Brown Creative has annual Breakthrough and Discoveries programmes
- Literature Works offers pay-what-you can advice surgeries, the Word Space development programme, and other opportunities for writers in the South West.
- The National Centre for Writing delivers the Early Career Awards programme, Escalator mentoring and development for fiction writers, and other offerings for those in the Norwich area.
- New Writing North runs A Writing Chance, the Northern Writers Award, Inkubator and other great initiatives.
- Poetry School offers bursary and full scholarship places on its prestigious MA programme with Newcastle University.
- Spread The Word runs the London Writers Award, the Disabled Poets Prize, the Wellcome Collection Non-Fiction Awards, and other initiatives
- Writing East Midlands has an annual mentoring scheme
- Writing West Midlands delivers the Room 204 development programme
- Writing Our Legacy offers development programme, associate artist schemes, and more
Mentoring & Manuscript Assessments
Getting a professional read and critique of your work can be a very important step in finishing a polished book. Similarly, one-to-one mentoring to focus and guide your project can also be a huge benefit in staying on track and getting ongoing feedback and support. Unfortunately, there are limited free and low-cost opportunities for this, as it’s very time consuming and requires dedicated professional writers and editors.
The main free scheme is The Literary Consultancy’s Free Reads programme, which provides manuscript assessments to writers on low incomes. You’ll need to apply via one of their regional partners depending on where you live, although there are also some spots available nationally. Each partner has a different application period annually, so you’ll need to check the website of the one nearest you. It’s competitive but well worth applying for. The Literary Consultancy also offers this—and many other excellent forms of support—as a paid service.
There are also a range of places providing manuscript assessments and one-to-one mentoring, creative and professional support for a fee. Some cover multiple genres and others specialise. Some are short and more affordable; others are longer and more intensive. Many offer bursaries or concessions for low income writers.
- Alternative Literary Consultancy provides editorial assessments, submission package reviews as well as coaching and mentoring.
- Arkbound Foundation has scholarship and subsidised places on its mentoring scheme.
- Booksmiths supports novelists via coaching/mentoring and manuscript assessments.
- Cornerstones Literary Consultancy provides submission package reviews and scouting for agents, manuscript assessments and editing, and 1:1 mentoring.
- Curtis Brown Creative offers mentoring, manuscript and submitting to agent feedback packages.
- Faber Academy provides six types of manuscript assessments in both prose and poetry, and mentoring ranging from six weeks to nine months.
- Jericho Writers has a range of editing, manuscript assessment including for self-publishing, fiction, poetry, children’s/YA and children’s books.
- London Lit Lab offers bespoke mentoring in fiction and creative non-fiction.
- The Novelry covers memoir, literary and genre fiction, and children’s/YA in its coaching and mentoring programme, plus manuscript assessments inclusive of a meeting with an editor.
- Poetry School provides one-off feedback, manuscript assessments and longer mentoring.
- Poetry Society offers 1:1 feedback sessions and poetry prescription feedback.
- Retreat West has one-off 1:1 sessions and full editorial reports for fiction and creative non-fiction.
- Rewrite Academy is a developmental programme designed to support Black women and women of colour writers who are keen to finish their works-in-progress. The programme involves a mixture of tuition, critiquing, and networking with publishers and agents.
- The Literary Consultancy offers manuscript assessments, developmental editing, 1:1 mentoring, submission package support, copy editing/proofreading, and many other forms of professional and creative support.
- National Centre for Writing has mentoring sessions ranging from an introductory one hour to twelve months.
- Writers & Artists provides advice and support at any stage, from an initial ‘Agony Agent’ initial overview up to final manuscript polish and ‘Beat the Rejection’ consultation with a literary agent, including in fiction, creative non-fiction, children’s writing and YA.
- Writing Our Legacy offers mentoring, manuscript assessments, performance/reading training, and more, including at reduced cost.
- The Writing Coach provides coaching, mentoring, manuscript assessments, support to get a literary agent, copy editing/proofreading, and more.
